The use of conversation mapping to frame key perceptual issues facing the general dental practice system in England

<b>Objective</b>: To demonstrate the use of a novel qualitative methodology namely conversation mapping, which can be used to capture differences in stakeholder perspectives and give a root definition of the problem in a complex policy area. The methodology is used in the context of the changes introduced in the English general dental practice system in April 2006, to investigate the key issues facing the system, as perceived by general dental practitioners (GDPs). <b>Basic research design</b>: From a broad trigger statement, three transformational statements were produced. Each participant recorded their contribution on a hard diagrammatic form as a ‘map’, with others responding with their own written comment, thus generating three conversation maps. Thematic analysis resulted in the generation of a preliminary model summarising key perceptual issues. <b>Results</b>: The five emergent themes identified were: financing, dentists’ wants/needs, the role of the public and patients, system goals and policy level decision making. Financing was identified as the core category to which all other categories were related. <b>Conclusions</b>: Conversation mapping, a methodology arising from a systems approach, can be used to develop a ‘rich picture’ of an oral health care system in order to define the core problem within this policy area. Findings suggest that GDPs identify the financing of the system as a fundamental source of problems within the general dental practice system. This appears to be at variance with the perception of policy makers, who report a more limited view, identifying the system of remuneration as the ‘heart of the problem’

Cow-Calf Producer Interest in Retained Ownership

The beef industry’s share of domestic meat demand continues to decline, as increasing vertical coordination in pork and poultry contribute to these industries’ ability to offer convenient, consistent, and less expensive products. For such vertical coordination to be effective, incentives must be properly aligned so that those responsible for making the most important investments for system profitability are appropriately compensated. This study demonstrates that cow-calf producers who invest in quality registered cattle and those who are interested in incorporating feedlot and carcass data into herd management decisions are also more interested in retained ownership.beef cattle, property rights theory, retained ownership, Livestock Production/Industries, Marketing, Q13,

Music in advertising and consumer identity: The search for Heideggerian authenticity

This study discusses netnographic findings involving 472 YouTube postings categorized to identify themes regarding consumers’ experience of music in advertisements. Key themes relate to musical taste, musical indexicality, musical repetition and musical authenticity. Postings reveal how music conveys individual taste and is linked to personal memories and Heidegger’s coincidental time where moments of authenticity may be triggered in a melee of emotions, memories and projections. Identity protection is enabled as consumers frequently resist advertisers’ attempts to use musical repetition to impose normative identity. Critiques of repetition in the music produce Heideggerian anxiety leading to critically reflective resistance. Similarly, where advertising devalues the authenticity of iconic pieces of music, consumers often resist such authenticity transgressions as a threat to their own identity. The Heideggerian search for meaning in life emphasizes the significance of philosophically driven ideological authenticity in consumers’ responses to music in advertisements

Scalar and Pseudoscalar Higgs Boson Plus One Jet Production at the LHC and Tevatron

The production of the Standard Model (SM) Higgs boson (H) in association with a jet is compared with that of the lightest scalar Higgs boson (h^0) and the pseudoscalar Higgs boson (A^0) of the Minimal Supersymmetric Model (MSSM) at both the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and the Fermilab Tevatron. We include both top and bottom quark loops to lowest order in QCD and investigate the limits of zero quark mass and infinite quark mass.Comment: 14 pages, REVTeX4, 14 eps figures v2: Version accepted for publication in PR

Bioresponsive hydrogels

We highlight recent developments in hydrogel materials with biological responsiveness built in. These ‘smart’ biomaterials change properties in response to selective biological recognition events. When exposed to a biological target (nutrient, growth factor, receptor, antibody, enzyme, or whole cell), molecular recognition events trigger changes in molecular interactions that translate into macroscopic responses, such as swelling/collapse or solution-to-gel transitions. The hydrogel transitions may be used directly as optical readouts for biosensing, linked to the release of actives for drug delivery, or instigate biochemical signaling events that control or direct cellular behavior. Accordingly, bioresponsive hydrogels have gained significant interest for application in diagnostics, drug delivery, and tissue regeneration/wound healing

Studies of the limit order book around large price changes

We study the dynamics of the limit order book of liquid stocks after experiencing large intra-day price changes. In the data we find large variations in several microscopical measures, e.g., the volatility the bid-ask spread, the bid-ask imbalance, the number of queuing limit orders, the activity (number and volume) of limit orders placed and canceled, etc. The relaxation of the quantities is generally very slow that can be described by a power law of exponent $\approx0.4$. We introduce a numerical model in order to understand the empirical results better. We find that with a zero intelligence deposition model of the order flow the empirical results can be reproduced qualitatively. This suggests that the slow relaxations might not be results of agents' strategic behaviour. Studying the difference between the exponents found empirically and numerically helps us to better identify the role of strategic behaviour in the phenomena.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figure

Punctuated equilibria and 1/f noise in a biological coevolution model with individual-based dynamics

We present a study by linear stability analysis and large-scale Monte Carlo simulations of a simple model of biological coevolution. Selection is provided through a reproduction probability that contains quenched, random interspecies interactions, while genetic variation is provided through a low mutation rate. Both selection and mutation act on individual organisms. Consistent with some current theories of macroevolutionary dynamics, the model displays intermittent, statistically self-similar behavior with punctuated equilibria. The probability density for the lifetimes of ecological communities is well approximated by a power law with exponent near -2, and the corresponding power spectral densities show 1/f noise (flicker noise) over several decades. The long-lived communities (quasi-steady states) consist of a relatively small number of mutualistically interacting species, and they are surrounded by a ``protection zone'' of closely related genotypes that have a very low probability of invading the resident community. The extent of the protection zone affects the stability of the community in a way analogous to the height of the free-energy barrier surrounding a metastable state in a physical system. Measures of biological diversity are on average stationary with no discernible trends, even over our very long simulation runs of approximately 3.4x10^7 generations.Comment: 20 pages RevTex. Minor revisions consistent with published versio

Effective action approach and Carlson-Goldman mode in d-wave superconductors

We theoretically investigate the Carlson-Goldman (CG) mode in two-dimensional clean d-wave superconductors using the effective ``phase only'' action formalism. In conventional s-wave superconductors, it is known that the CG mode is observed as a peak in the structure factor of the pair susceptibility $S(\Omega, \mathbf{K})$ only just below the transition temperature T_c and only in dirty systems. On the other hand, our analytical results support the statement by Y.Ohashi and S.Takada, Phys.Rev.B {\bf 62}, 5971 (2000) that in d-wave superconductors the CG mode can exist in clean systems down to the much lower temperatures, $T \approx 0.1 T_c$. We also consider the manifestations of the CG mode in the density-density and current-current correlators and discuss the gauge independence of the obtained results.Comment: 23 pages, RevTeX4, 12 EPS figures; final version to appear in PR

Long-Term Preservation of Cones and Improvement in Visual Function Following Gene Therapy in a Mouse Model of Leber Congenital Amaurosis Caused by Guanylate Cyclase-1 Deficiency

Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA) is a severe retinal dystrophy manifesting from early infancy as poor vision or blindness. Loss-of-function mutations in GUCY2D cause LCA1 and are one of the most common causes of LCA, accounting for 20% of all cases. Human GUCY2D and mouse Gucy2e genes encode guanylate cyclase-1 (GC), which is responsible for restoring the dark state in photoreceptors after light exposure. The Glicy2e(-/-) mouse shows partially diminished rod function, but an absence of cone function before degeneration. Although the cones appear morphologically normal, they exhibit mislocalization of proteins involved in phototransduction. In this study we tested the efficacy of an rAAV2/8 vector containing the human rhodopsin kinase promoter and the human GUCY2D gene. Following subretinal delivery of the vector in Glicy2e(-/-) mice, GC1 protein was detected in the rod and cone outer segments, and in transduced areas of retina cone transducin was appropriately localized to cone outer segments. Moreover, we observed a dose-dependent restoration of rod and cone function and an improvement in visual behavior of the treated mice. Most importantly, cone preservation was observed in transduced areas up to 6 months post injection. To date, this is the most effective rescue of the Glicy2e(-/-) mouse model of LCA and we propose that a vector, similar to the one used in this study, could be suitable for use in a clinical trial of gene therapy for LCA1